Boots highest ranking retailer in annual table of best school leaver employers
Health and beauty retailer Boots has become the highest-ranking retailer in RateMyApprenticeship’s annual table of the Top 60 Employers for apprenticeships and school leaver programmes.
Based on ratings and voted for by young people already employed on the schemes, Boots came in fifth place while Aldi came just outside the top 10 at number 14. Meanwhile, supermarket giant Tesco was the next highest ranked retailer at 32.
The overall winner was financial giant EY which was chosen following reviews from students that measured everything from how valued they felt in a company to how much they earned.
Ollie Sidwell, co-founder of RateMyApprenticeship.co.uk, said: “The Top 60 Employers Table is a great chance to celebrate and reward those companies that are leading the way in this area and really providing opportunities for the next batch of talent, across the UK.”
Research commissioned to coincide with the league table found that more than 50% of parents and teachers agreed that companies should be given compulsory targets for the number of under-25 apprentices they take on.
When asked who has the most responsibility for recruiting young people on to the various work-based training schemes, 32% of pupils, 50% of parents, 44% of teachers and 48% of businesses said that this should be the responsibility of employers.
However, 51% of people polled thought that schools were not doing enough to inform pupils about non-traditional routes into employment.
The research also shows that 59% of the public believe that recent moves to give apprenticeships and related schemes the same status as university degrees would lead to a general rise in their success in attracting school leavers.
Sidwell added: “The latest apprenticeship report from IPPR suggests that apprenticeship figures have become heavily skewed towards older workers – as the UK’s voice for student apprentice’s this is shocking. A quota on the number of under-25s on company programmes would help raise the bar, but it shouldn’t be seen as a tick list process.
“Targets could be a good way of ensuring that all school leavers have the opportunity to choose the path that’s right for them. Eventually this broadening of choice could mean that more women and those from ethnic minorities will end up in the boardrooms of the UK’s top companies and everyone can play a part in making this a viable option for young people.”
Due to the increase in the availability of apprenticeships, school leaver programmes, sponsored degree programmes, gap year programmes and work experience schemes, RateMyApprenticeship has expanded its table of top employers from 30 last year to 60 in its latest table.
